Closer still. We weren’t at NAMM or anything. See those little colored marks on the fretboard? Yup, those are real, honest-to-god game controllers. These Power Gig guitars were being shown off at the GDC by the fine folks at Seven45 studios. And by “shown off,” we mean they had their employees using them in an enclosure on a TV screen that nobody could see. Great marketing, that.

Apparently, these are real, functioning electric guitars. Between sets of an unseen music and rhythm game being developed by Seven45, the employees would plug the controller into an amp stack and shred for a while. And it sounded good! Oh lord, did it sound good.

Now, we didn’t have a chance to actually use one of these guitars or see the game they were playing (which apparently has Cult of Personality by Living Color as one of the songs), nor did anybody else - this was eyes only for the guitars, and ears-only for the game. We were told that these will, in fact, function as controllers for Rock Band and Guitar Hero, and you’ll play them in much the same fashion (though you can choose whether to pick a string or strum them all). Their proprietary game, though, has a mode that will involve hitting specific strings and notes, like tablature. (One source who saw the game in action voiced some negative opinions, but Seven45 isn’t showing anything else off until E3.)

A similar microphone and drum setup has been announced, but we have yet to see how they will differ from the current stable of music controllers.

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The Spike TV Video Game Awards show happened this weekend. I would have watched it, but I frankly have enough women, cars, and Mountain Dew here at my fortress, and if that’s not good enough to get Jack Black over here, then so be it. Either way, a bunch of games got announced, including Green Day: Rock Band, from Harmonix and MTV Games.

Anyway, details about the game are scarce, but design director and notorious lothario Chris Foster of Harmonix posted on his twitter account that the game’s songs will be exportable for use in your other Rock Band games, unlike those found in The Beatles: Rock Band. He also says the game will be fun, and I’m going to agree with him, and totally not because I want a whole bunch of free crap from Harmonix. And, by the way, if you’re from Harmonix, you can ask my editor for my shipping address. I have no dignity and you can set my price.

Ever see a game peripheral so classy that you have to put your pants through an extra wash cycle?

Speaker company Krator recently released pictures of the unreleased Krator Orpheus WG-07 controller for Rock Band and Guitar Hero, and dear god is that hot. Look at that inlay! It’s apparently made out of metal and aluminum, offers a range of 10 meters wirelessly, and works for the PC and PS3, but nothing further has been released about the guitar or when it might go on sale. Not that I need it or anything. My Guitar Hero skills are stuff of legend and have been documented by the health department to be the number three cause of teen pregnancy.

Thanksgiving is now over, and so the spirit of crass materialism rides in on a chilly breeze. The holidays are almost here, meaning that you’re likely going to need to drop some hard earned ducats on the people who make it a point to hound you year-round. That being said, if you’re not a hopeless misanthrope like myself, you might already be thinking about what to buy for others. Or for yourself. I’m not going to make any judgment calls, you selfish bastard. I don’t have time for jolliness. I’m like Dorian Gray, all ash and suffering on the inside.

So here’s a list of some fun things your can buy for the gamer in your life this year. Some of it is older, some of it is more obscure, but nothing is obnoxiously expensive, per se. Have fun, you wacky kids.

Hit the jump for the list. If you have any suggestions of your own, please leave them in the comments. Oh, and if you want more, non-game-related gift ideas, check out our full Holiday Gift Guide!

If you are like me and were not able to score tickets to this year’s Mayhem Tour, you can pretty much guess you will spend that day mopping or curling up in bed. Well, Harmonix says NO to that and is releasing 28 tracks from the artists performing at the event in addition to back-catalog tracks from The Presidents of the United States, The Offspring and Lamb of God all available July 7th, 2009. Only catch? These tracks are only available for Wii Rock Band.

God, what a lonely-looking stand they had this game set up on. Look at that. Really?

When it comes down to brass tacks, at least to me, Rock Band and LEGO go together like peanut butter and chitin. After being revealed to discerning eyes during Dan Teasdale’s GDC talk, the game has garnered some attention from puzzled, clueless journos like myself. LEGO Rock Band is a game for the little’uns, principally, tooled to a younger age demographic and given a fresh coat of paint to keep the drooling cretins jamming away on modern pop hits. So if you’re coming in looking for some Pantera, you’ll be disappointed. But I digress.

By now, you’ve likely seen the hubbub that surrounded the unveiling of The Beatles: Rock Band at the Microsoft presser. Hell, the two remaining Beatles even took time out of their busy schedule of rolling around in huge piles of money and prestige to come onstage for approximately 2 seconds and say how awesome it was. Where does it stand in the growing pantheon of music games, though? Does it innovate? Can it woo new fans? Is it safe? Will it blend?

Well, Harmonix, if nothing else, is dedicated to the music. That being said, they did a fantastic job of doing the Beatles justice, even going so far as to disguise their E3 booth as giant replica of Abbey Road. Yeah. They roll like that.

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr unveiled their upcoming game ‘The Beatles: Rock Band’ Monday at the E3. The combined effort of Harmonix and MTV Games features their early days at the Cavern Club in Liverpool through some of their later appearances with 45 mastered tunes with multi-part vocal harmonies. If you are into the album Abbey Road, it will be downloadable shortly after the September 9 debut, the same day Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI release the remastered Beatles catalog.

So here’s the drink list from the event Harmonix threw the other day at the Rockit Room in San Fran. Nice, eh? I didn’t get the opportunity to indulge, but one fellow told me that the overdrive will “take you to flavor country” before gliding away on roller skates.

Oh, and at the end of the night, they announced and played a song called “Don’t Stop Believing” or something by some flash in the pan band named Journey, claiming that it would be hitting Rock Band. Should be available next Tuesday, but the date is subject to change and the pricing has not yet been announced, if you care about that kind of stuff.

(It’s very hard for me to break sarcasm, but I’ve always held the position that the first music and rhythm game to get this song wins the war. Good job, HMX! You’ve doomed me to more DLC as my children starve. Or, at least, they’re LIKE my children. But they’re older, and female. And hookers.)

Well, ever since the folks at Harmonix got their hands on the Beatles catalogue, we all (and by that, I mean ‘I’) figured that this day was coming. Sure enough, Apple, MTV, and Harmonix have announced The Beatles: Rock Band for release on 9/9/09, and a website has been put up with nothing but an interior shot of (what I believe is) Abbey Road Studios (main recording studio for the Fab Four) and a ‘9.9.09’ plastered across the screen. The game will feature content by the Beatles (duh) and will be bundled with signature instrument replicas if you order the full shebang, and if that means I get to rock a little plastic Hofner, I’ll be there on day one. When reached for comment, Paul and Ringo both chased me off their property with vicious dogs. I tried to reach the other Beatles, but I unfortunately lent my shovel to the neighbors.